The Thing Greater Than Yourself (Matthew 16:24-28)

And here we get this famous saying from Jesus. “Take up your cross.” The essence of discipleship is to die to self. This sentiment comes in many forms these days, not just Christianity. We hear people, rightly telling us that the key to a good life is to live for something greater than yourself. The key is that there is just one thing that qualifies: the Kingdom of God. The Gospel compels us to live for this one thing that is greater than any of us. Believers are called to be instruments of God, impacting those around us.

A quote that I see popping up everywhere lately is:

“Preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.”

It is attributed to Count Zinzendorf, from my neck of the woods in Dresden. The likely, actual, full quote directed at missionaries is as follows:

“Remember, you must never use your position to lord it over the [non-Christian]. Instead you must humble yourself and earn their respect through your own quiet faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. The missionary must seek nothing for himself, no seat of honor or hope of fame. Like the cab-horse in London, each of you must wear blinders that blind you to every danger and to every snare and conceit. You must be content to suffer, to die, and to be forgotten.”

This is a great thought for all believers, not just ministers. The fact is that we will all be forgotten. We are all going to die, and time will move on. Anything we work at gaining for ourselves is dust in the wind. So, Jesus’ call to die to self is something we should embrace.

As I heard in a sermon from Drew Taylor on Ecclesiastes today, embracing death and anonymity helps us to:

-Be faithful today.
-Receive everything in life as a gift from God.
-And, to suffer for Christ’s sake.